KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia hopes their relationship with the United States can continue to increase after American Defense Secretary Leon Panetta toured Southeast Asia. According to reports on his visit, the secretary appears to have an “unusually strong interest” in boosting diplomatic and security relations with Malaysia. Panetta, who held a series of bilateral and trilateral meetings with Asian allies at the so-called Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, rounded up all his meetings with a one-on-one meeting with Malaysian Defense Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Pentagon press secretary George Little confirmed in a statement that the two leaders agreed to strengthen the bilateral military-to-military relationship. “During the meeting, both leaders stated that with a renewed focus on Asia as part of the American defense strategy, they look forward to strengthening the US-Malaysia military-to-military relationship, including expansion of multilateral exercises,” Little said. Panetta, according to Little, specifically thanked Zahid for making Malaysian armed forces medical personnel available for deployment in Afghanistan. Military experts expect the US administration to follow up with Malaysia on greater defense cooperation after Panetta's initial talks with Zahid. Panetta, who also later visited Vietnam and India, used his Singapore visit to gather “first-hand information” in his bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Malaysia and host country Singapore, also reinforced the US presence in Asia. The US administration, as defense experts here say, will strengthen its engagement in the Southeast Asian region which, many countries fear, can come under China's domination, even though Washington has officially stated that this move was not aimed against any country in particular.
